The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-04
A SINGULAR SECT.
The Wonderful Coy Preacher Of the
Indiana Soul Sleepers.

The Wonderful Coy Preacher Of the
Indiana Soul Sleepers.
From the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
The Soul Sleepers are not strong numer-
caliy, but they Just now have among them
one who is truly wonderful, viewed in what
ever light he may be. As far as 1 can learn
this sect is confined to the Sout,lern part of
the State, and have their strongest settle
| ment in Jefferson county. Boiled down 10
its simplicity their doctrine is simply this;
That when the body dies the soul enters on
a state of sleep, in which it remains until
the final resurrection of the body on tne
day of Judgment, when it awakes and again
enters into the body as II arises from tne
tomb This reunited soul and body then
appears before the throne for judgment.
| To Judge from outward appearances and
| surroundings, the believers in this state are
not of the profound and learned class. As lar
as could Judge, and from all could learn,
they are unlearned and ignorant, and they
certainly have sleepy look, as If both soul
and body were more than hall asleep How
ever that may be, they are evidently devout
and earnest, and are supplemented and
simpie-mannered class The peculiar doc
trines they teach of the future seem to have
affected them in many ways, especially IN
their habits and manners OF living. In
jefferson county, not far from Madison,
they have church and quite congrega-
ton. The pastor of the church, on rather
the preacher, is boy of 10 years of age,
and he is really wonder. When out OF the
pulpit he has a sort of far-away, simple and
| listless look and manner. His clothing
is lily cut and poorly made. and OF
the cheapest material and, with his pre-
| occupied look, gives him the appearance OF
prematurely aged child. His hair Is
! thick, coarse and Undermined. In the church
| he sits on one of the front benches. his feet
about six inches from the floor. and swing
| ing in regular school-boy style. No OBJ
| server, no matter how attentive ne mlgnt
be, would ever take him for anything but
| an ordinary boy. Embarrassing and really
stupid as he appears, he has marvellous
and almost inspired conception of words
and ideas, or memory that Is equally mar
| vellous, for he breaches sermons that Beech
| er in his palmiest days might have deem
| proud Of For purity of diction, logical ar
rangement, and beautiful SMILES, they are
unnmpassed by any pulpit orator OF the
| present day, either in this country Or
in Europe. Neither by act, word or look
does he convey the impression that he Is
possessed with the idea that he has done
anything extraordinary, even after one OF
of his loftiest flights.
| There is about him something so earnest,
so simple and so childlike that the listener,
as he breaches or prays, feels a kind OF
y
| tingling at the roots of the hair. Last sun
day he preached from Isaiah xiii. H.. For
| the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the
| year of my redeemed is come" His father,
who is an illiterate man, being scarcely
able to read, opened the services by reading
the chapter from which the text was taken,
| the boy meanwhile sitting ont the front seat
swinging his legs, and apparently unmind-
full of what was going on around him.
| When the father concluded his reading he
| nodded to the boy, who arose and assembled
the pulpit His feet had scarcely
touched the pulpit before a wonderful
change came over him. His listlessness was
gone, and in its place was an enthusiastic
eartnestness seldom found even among the
most devoted ministers. He knelt down
and led the congregation in prayer. There
| was a depth, earnestness, pathos and en-
| treaty in that prayer that made it wonder
full even beyond the marvelo',9 sermon
which followed it. The prayer concluded
with the following words, spoken in tone
of earnest pathos that reached the hearts of
the hearers, if it did not the throne of God
to whom it was addressed; "Oh, Father,
| look in mercy and love on the sick and
| afflicted; oh, Lord, regard with sympathy
and kindness the poor and afflicted; oh,
Father and Lord, look with special favor
and tenderness upon the young men who
| are here today
/
desk, his eyes fairly in flames from his com
munion with his Master, and without hesita
| ton or embarrassment, and in clear but
| deeply earnest voice, proceeded to elucldate
| his text. / cannot give even a synopsis of
the sermon; but it was clear, logical, forci-
| BILE, and in some respects unique. In closlng
| he claimed that the last of the prophecies
were now being fulfilled and the day of
| Judgment was approaching. He referred
| to the prophecy as to the time of the end of
| the world that children should rise against
their parents, and parents against their chill
| dren, and said that at no period OF the
worlds history was that more true than to-
| day, when every paper was loaded down
with accounts of parents being murdered
by their children, and children by their
| parents. cannot say that the sermon was
his own composition. The language and
| ideas were too exalted for child of his ten
der years, but even if it was the work of
another, his seat of memory in reproducing
| it and the Evolutionary powers displayed
were something uncanny. He is a prodigy
! whichever way it is taken, and his equal
does not exist anywhere in the United
| STATED
If the sermon was his own, he is to ser
moniZing what Bind Tom is to music. In
diapols has some able divines but not one
| of them can produce such a sermon as that
delivered last Sunday by Pascal Porter the
| boy preacher of Jefferson county His
parents and friends claim that he was in
| spired when but 2 years of age, and that
since then he has been delivering his re-
markable addresses. II he memories them
| it is strange where he finds the originals and
! who teaches him. His sole companion is an
aged grandmother who, like Lois of old,
| gives all her time to her Bible and to
prayer These two spend their days in
reading the Scriptures and in talking of the
| mercies of the Lord.
Surprised Turks.